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Please take your Bible and turn to .
There are a lot of characters in the Bible who present some very interesting scenarios.
One of those characters is a man by the name of John Mark.
Mark, as he is best known to us, was the cousin of Barnabas, as well as the author of the Gospel of Mark.
He was most likely the young man who witnessed the events in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of Jesus betrayal.
After Jesus was arrested he fled from the garden naked, leaving his cloak behind.
When Paul and Barnabas set out on their first Missionary Journey they took Mark with them.
But shortly afterwards Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem.
It appears that Paul interpreted this as an act of desertion.
So, when he and Barnabas were starting to consider taking a second trip, Paul refused to allow Mark to join them.
This case a strong division to occur between these two godly men.
Therefore, he and Barnabas split ways.
However, years later Paul’s attitude toward Mark changed.
Writing to Timothy from a Roman prison he mentioned that everyone but Luke had deserted him.
But he encourage Timothy to come to him and to pick up Mark and bring him with [him], for he is useful to [Paul] for service.
In Paul’s esteem Mark had transformed from being useless to being useful.
Sometimes entire churches become useless to Christ, and the church of Laodicea was one such church.
Christ, the Head of the Church, wants His local assemblies to be useful and not useless.
In my morning readings this week I read this passage which jumped out at me:
Unlike salt, people can go from being useless to useful.
And I believe that is the thrust of our passage this morning.
As we go through this passage this morning we are going to reflect on several questions: What does a useful church look like?
Why was the church of Laodicea useless?
Was this church even a regenerate church?
And, how does Christ see Britton Bethel Baptist Church?
Let’s read our passage together.
WHAT DOES A USEFUL CHURCH LOOK LIKE?
A useful church provides refreshment and sustenance for weary pilgrims
In John Bunyan’s classic allegory, Pilgrim’s Progress, the main character, a man named Christian, was journeying to the Celestial City.
As he grew weary from his travels he found an oasis which the Lord of the land had provided for weary pilgrims.
And he stopped there for a time of rest and refreshment.
And that is, in part, what a useful church should look like.
The Christian life is a weary journey.
It is not nearly so happy as some would make it out to be.
I’m sure you’ve heard a sales pitch that went something like this: “Come to Jesus and you will never have a sad moment again; or all your troubles will vanish away.”
My experience with the Christian life is that there are trouble a plenty, mostly surrounding our sin nature and propensity to live as if we are slaves to sin.
Honest Christians will admit that they often struggle with depression or other such things.
And often the reason for that struggle is the inability to conquer the sinful desires that seem to have amplified now that they are Christians.
Of course that is because we are now aware of our sin, and its offense against God.
A useful church provides healing therapy for spiritually sick and wounded
In the 1980’s Steve Green had a song about wounded spiritual soldiers.
The lyrics went like this:
See all the wounded
Hear all their desperate cries for help
Pleading for shelter and for peace
Our comrades are suffering
Come let us meet them at their need
Don't let a wounded soldier die
Come let us pour the oil
Come let us bind their hurt
Let's cover them with a blanket of His love
Come let us break the bread
Come let us give them rest
Let's minister to healing to them
Don't let another wounded soldier die
Inward goal
Obeying their orders
They fought on the front lines for our King
Capturing the enemy's stronghold
Weakened from battle
Satan crept in to steal their lives
Don't let a wounded soldier die
Outward goal
Come let us pour the oil
Come let us bind their hurt
Let's cover them with a blanket of His love
Come let us break the bread
Come let us give them rest
Let's minister to healing to them
Don't let another wounded soldier die
WHY WAS THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA USELESS?
Let’s look at a couple of reasons why the Church in Laodicea was considered by Christ to be useless.
They were useless because they had an inaccurate assessment of their spiritual condition
Close Christian friendships help us to garner an accurate assessment of ourselves
Churches also may need outside help in order to get an accurate assessment of themselves
They were useless because they were lukewarm
I remember being taught by some well meaning folks that God is more pleased with cold, backslidden believers than He is with those who are somewhere in the middle.
That is not what is being said in this passage.
To understand it we need to consider the circumstances in Laodicea.
This wealthy city had a problem with water that would rival Flint, Michigan.
Their water was so repulsive to drink that it tended to induce vomiting.
Now in Colossae, which was a mere ten miles away, there was a refreshing cold spring.
You can actually still travel there and drink its refreshing water.
In Hierapolis, which was seven miles away in a different direction, there was a hot spring which was rich in mineral deposits that physicians sent patients to for the healing therapy that it provided.
Therefore, when Christ said that this church was lukewarm they would have understood well what He meant.
They were useless.
And Christ has no use for a useless church.
One commentator noted:
That is to say, they were useless to Christ because they were complacent, self satisfied, and indifferent to the real issues of faith in him and of discipleship.
Hot mineral springs in Hierapolis 7 miles north
This brings us to a very intriguing question; one in which commentators do not agree:
The water supply in Laodicea was known for inducing vomiting
WAS THE CHURCH OF LAODICEA A REGENERATE CHURCH?
I spent a large portion of my time this week considering this question.
One the one hand you have commentators saying that claim that this church is not regenerate and that is why He is standing outside the door of the church.
Then you have others that say that this letter belongs to the church and not to unbelievers.
Spurgeon wrote:
This text belongs to the church of God, not to the unconverted.
It is addressed to the Laodicean church.
There is Christ outside the church, driven there by her unkindness, but he has not gone far away, he loves his church too much to leave her altogether, he longs to come back, and therefore he waits at the doorpost.
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